Oil-fuel-injection device for internal-combustion engines



K. I. CROSSLEY AND W. LE P. WEBB- OIL FUEL INJECTION DEVICE FOR INTERN/IL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE I2. 1918.

1A1 9E3 1 I, Patented June 13, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

FIG. 5.

FIG. 2.

W WM 7/4@@ K. I. CHOSSLEY AND W. LE P. WEBB. OIL FUEL INJECTION DEVICE FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES. APPLICATION FILED IUNE I2, I918. 1A1 9,231

Patented June 13, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

FIG. 5.

FIG. 4.

V E t hwm Crowley 6 6 ieslfrl er 'Wb 77 442% WM K. I. CROSSLEY AND W. LE P. WEBB.

OIL FUEL INJECTION DEVICE FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILD JUNE 12. 1918.

1,419,281. Patented. June 13, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

'F/.@ 9 G E i F 444 5 ere KENNETH IRWIN CBOSSLEY AND WILFRED LE PLASTBIER WEBB, F MANCHEST ENGLAND.

orrrrunt-nwnorron DEVICE roe INTERNAL-COMBUSTION En'emrs.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 13, 1922.

Application filed June 12, 1918. Serial No. 239,670.

To all whom it may concern f Be it known that we, KENNETH IRWIN CRossLnY and WILFRED LE PnAsTRIER WEBB, both subjects of the King of Great Britain, residing at Pottery Lane, Openshaw, Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, England,

' have invented new and useful Improvements in Oil-Fuel-Injection Devices for Internal- Combustion Engines, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to the kind of internal combustion oil engine in which the fuel is injected by itself without air through an oil injector sprayer into the combustion chamber in the form of spray at or near the end of the compression stroke and particularly to the detailed construction of oil injector sprayers used in engines operated with tar oil alcohol or other liquid fuel having a high ignition point and a high specific gravity (hereinafter called the power oil) and through which sprayer another and a more easily ignitable oil (hereinafter called the ignition oil) is injected in advance of the power oil into the combustion chamber for sembled.

Oil injector sprayers for the kind of engines referred to and when using power oil only are made in various ways and usually with a delivery valve of some kind in the vicinity of the spraying orifice.

For our present purpose we use the type of sprayer having a delivery valve of the needle type which lifts off its seat in a direction away from the spraying orifice or orifices and it may be either mechanically operated or itmay be formed as a piston valve and be operated automatically by the pressure on the oil supplied from a pump acciumulatfor or thg like.

n a ormer ritish s ecification No. 2876 of 1915 we described an oil injector sprayer for use with ignition oil and power 011 whlch was provided with a needle delivery valve of the spring loaded piston valve type operated automatically by the pressure of the 011, and in Figure 2 of the drawings which accompanied this former specification, this o l 1n ector sprayer was shewn with an 1gn1t1on oil port indicated by the letter J terminating in the oil chamber just behind and surrounding the seating of the delivery valve, whlle the power oil port indicated by theletter H terminated in the oil chamber consideralbly further away from the valve seating and the oil chamber between the polnts of entry of the ignition oil and power 011 ports was in no way restricted in size or capacity. With this arrangement there is sometimes a tendency (and particularly when the engine is working on small loads when the temperature in the combustion chamber is reduced, and when only small charges of power oil are being delivered to the combustion chamber through the delivery valve, and spraying orifices) for the ignition oil to become unduly mixed with the power oil and thereby rendered less inflammable, previous to the opening of the delivery valve, and, in consequence there is occasionally a tendency for the oil spray on entering the combustion chamber to fail to ignite or to be ignited later than intended, unless the proportion of ignition oil used is rather large.

When running an engine with an injection device constructed according to our previous British specification 2876 of 1915, however, we discovered that there were frequent failures to ignite the charges immediately they were injected and that in consequence thereof extremely heavy preignitions or detonations occurred owing to some of the unburned fuel remaining in the cylinder and -mixing with the succeeding charge of air, this fuel and air on the following compression stroke being compressed as an explosive mixture to or near the full compression pressure, when ignition took place with extreme violence, making further running of the engine exceedingly dangerous, as will be well understood. After many and varied experiments, we found that, in order to overcome this difiiculty, it was necessary to limit the size of the chamber S to such an extent that its volume was about the same as, or preferably even less than, the volume of one injection of ignition oil so that the volume of the ignition oil to be in ected could fill or even more than fill the chamber S and so that when the power oil was forced into the injector and the valve B was lifted some ignition oil was bound to precede the power oil on its way into the combustion chamber 11 and become ignited before it could be mixed or unduly mixed, with the power 011.

In our present invention we arrange the oil chamber just behind and surrounding the seating of the delivery valve and the ignition and power oil ports leading to the oil chamber (irrespective of the type of delivery valve used) in such a manner that any mixing of the ignition oil and power oil is largely reduced or prevented by considerably restricting the size or capacity of the oil chamber behind and surrounding the valve seating between the point of entry of the ignition oil and the point of entry of the power oil until it is of such capacity that it will only contain a volume say about equal to and preferably less than the volume of one injection of ignition oil. Vhen the engine is in operation and an injection of power oil has been made the delivery valve closes and the oil chamber just behind and surrounding the delivery valve seating will be full of power oil. If this oil chamber is of such a small capacity, such for instance as less than the volumetric capacity of one injection of ignition oil, a considerably reduced amount of ignition oil is necesary and when it is delivered to the oil chamber it either passes through the delivery valve with a portion of power oil contained in the oil chamber and in advance of the delivery of the main supply of power oil, or on being delivered to the oil chamber it will press back the power oil out of the oil chamber into or towards the power oil port and in so doing more or less fill the oil chamber with ignition oil and then when the delivery of power oil to the sprayer takes place'the delivery valve opens and the ignition oil will pass through it and through the spraying orifice as spray into the combustion chamber in advance of the main supply of power oil. In either case a greater certainty of ignition previous to the delivery of the main supply of power oil is ensured than when the oil chamber is not restricted in size such as was the case in the sprayer illustrated in our former British specification No. 2876 of 1915.

In carrying our invention into practice we prefer to construct the oil injector sprayer in such a manner that the nozzle is a separate part and so placed that 1t can be maintained in a relatively cool condition,

and that the ports for the ignition -oil and power oil can be readily made with a suitably small cross sectional area even when they are of considerable length such as when the body of the sprayer passes through the walls ot a water-jacketed combustion chamber. The nozzle containing both the spraying orifice or orifices and the seating for the delivery valve is preferably a separate part provided with a circular flange and secured to the body of the sprayer by means of a screwed ring nut and so formed that only the end portion of the nozzle in which the spraying orifice or orifices are located projects into the combustion chamber, both the valve seating and the nozzle being thereby maintained in a relatively cool condition owing to the body of the sprayer and the ring nut being located within the cool (usually water-cooled) walls of the combustion chamber. The joint between the oil injector sprayer and the combustion chamber is preferably made on a seating on the exterior of the ring nut. The ports for the supply of the ignition oil and the power oil to the oil chamber behind the delivery valve are made as small as conveniently possible, and are either drilled up preferably from the nozzle end of the sprayer body or made in the form of longitudinal grooves in either the wall of the delivery valve spindle guide, or in the outer wall of a separate guide, in the form of a sleeve surrounding the valve spindle, or in the walls of the valve spindle.

In the accompanying drawings we have illustrated some examples of means for carrying out our invention, and in Which Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of part of our improved internal combustion engine showing the single oil injector sprayer, delivery valve and oil chamber having a volumetric capacity not exceeding the volume of a charge of ignition oil.

Figure 2 is an external view of Figure 1 and Figure 3 a cross section of the same.

Figures 4 and 5 are cross sections taken through the-sprayer and val e spindle and showing the ignition oil and power oil passages leading to their respective ports.

Figure 6 is a similar view to Figure 1 but showing a mechanical delivery valve of the spring loaded needle valve type.

Figure 7 is a cross section showing the ignition oil and power oil passages.

Figures 8, 9 and 10 are longitudinal sections of the sprayer illustrating alternative methods of constructing the oil ports and passages.

In Figures 1 to 3, is shewn an oil injector sprayer having a needle delivery valve of the spring loaded piston valve type, the

valve being lifted off its seat by pressure on the oil fuels supplied by means of pumps, accumulators or the like, Figure 1 being a section, Figure 2 an external view and Figure 3 a cross section of the sprayer. The sprayer bodyA is provided with a delivery valve 15 made in two diameters l3 and C thus forming a piston valve the pressure of the oil when admitted acting on the annular area between the smaller and larger diameters and lifting the valve off its seat against the pressure of the spring 1. The valve seats at E on a sprayer nozzle D. A spraying orifice is shewn at F and a screwed rlng nut G is used to secure the sprayer nozzle in position. The sprayer is shewn in place in an aperture in the wall of a combustion chamber H which is preferably water-j acketed at J. The joint between the sprayer and the combustion chamber is made on the annular seating K of the spraying nozzle say by means of a flange M secured by studs L and their nuts. A packing gland is shewn at N and the spring which loads the valve at P. Ignition oil is delivered through the pipe Q and the port R to the small oil chamber S just behind and surrounding the seat of the valve, and power oil is delivered through the pipe T and the port U to this oil chamber S. The ignition and power oil ports R and U in this illustration are drilled up from the nozzle end of the sprayer body but they may be drilled from the spring end of the sprayer if more convenient or they may be formed by longitudinal grooves in the valve spindle, as illustrated for instance in the cross section shown in Figure 4, or by longitudinal grooves in; the inner wall of the sprayer body as shewn in Figure 5, or in the outer wall of a sleeve V as shewn in Figures 6 and 7.

A mechanically operated delivery valve of the spring loaded needle valve type is shewn in Figure 6. This is similar (except that it is not a piston valve) to the delivery valve shewn in Figure 1 but it is operated mechanically by means of a lever W and cam X. In this figure we have shewn the oil ports R and U for ignition oil and power oil respectively formed by grooves in a sleeve V. These are also shewn in cross section in Figure 7.

Alternatively a combination of the above methods of providing the oil ports may be used if found desirable such for instance as illustrated in diagram form in Figure 8 where the port for the ignition oil is a drilled hole and the port for the power oil consists of a groove or grooves Y in the valve spindle. Or the arrangement shewn in diagram form in Figures 9 and 10 may be adopted where a drilled hole is used for the ignition oil port and a small annular space round the valve spindle for the power oil port. The valves shewn in Figures 8 and 9 are piston needle valves and the valve shewm in Figure 10 is an ordinary needle valve. Either of the arrangements in Figures 8, 9 and 10 may be used with either the mechanically operated type of needle valve or the piston type of needle valve operated by oil pressure, the only difference being that the spindle in the latter case is reduced appreciably in diameter at the seating as shewn for instance in Figures 1 and 9 at C.

To ensure a still greater certainty of ignition and still further reduce the amount of ignition oil used we in some cases reduce the capacity of the passage between the seating of the delivery valve of the spraying orifice by extending the end of the delivery valve spindle so as to project into and partially fill up the said passage thus reducing in amount any power oil which may be lying in this passage when the ignition oil begins to enter into it from the delivery valve. Such a projection is shewn-for example in Figure 10 at Y.

In the drawings the sprayers are shewn with a single spraying orifice but there may be as many orificesas desired and of any suitable kind.

There are various ways of carrying our invention into eii'ect other than those illustrated and which would be within the scope of our invention and it should therefore be clearly understood that those ways which we have illustrated are only given as examples and that we in no way limit ourselves to them.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is,

1. In an internal combustion engine, the combination with a combustion chamber, of a s ngle injector sprayer for injecting an 1gn1 ti0n oil and a power oil, said sprayerhavmg a separate inlet conduit for each of said oils and a single outlet port, a valve for closmg said port and adapted, when seated, to form a chamber in communication with both of said conduits, the area of said chamher being such and the admission of said 0118 being in such sequence with relation to the opening and closing of the outlet port that said chamber will contain only ignition 011 immediately prior to the opening of the port and the oils will become atomized only after their passage from said chamber.

2. In an internal combustion engine, the combination with a combustion chamber, of a single injector sprayer for injecting an ignition oil and a power oil, said sprayer having a separate inlet conduit for each of said oils and a single outlet port, a valve for closing said port and adapted, when seated, to form a chamber in communication with both of said conduits, the capacity of the chamber being substantially equal to that of only one of said conduits and the admission of said oils being in such sequence with relation to the opening and closing of the outlet port that when a, charge of ignition oil is injected the port is closed, whereby such charge completely fills the chamber and the injection of power oil occurs simultaneonsly with the opening of the port, whereby the ignition oil in the chamber is forced by the charge of power oil to precede said charge through the port. 10

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification.

KENNETH IRWIN CROSSLEY. \VILFR ED LE PIJASTRIER WEBB. 

